September
4, 2016 - The GCC real estate market has witnessed remarkable growth
over the past years, with the sector remaining resilient despite the
effects of oil price fluctuations. In the UAE alone, the local industry
is expected to climb at a compound annual growth rate of 6.4 per cent
from 2015 to 2019. Despite the regional market’s strong performance and
positive outlook, the tools of the trade have not evolved much to keep
up with the technological innovations dominating the world over.

The
practice is nonetheless changing. According to a report titled
‘Disrupting Real Estate: The Impact of Technology and the Industry’s
Future’ released by Orient Planet Research, an Orient Planet Group
venture, the digital wave has touched even the regional real estate
industry. The sector, the report notes, is now eagerly navigating its
way through this digital transformation to optimize processes and
achieve significant value increases.

‘Disrupting Real Estate: The
Impact of Technology and the Industry’s Future’ was released in time
for this year’s Cityscape Global which is set to take place from
September 6 to 8, 2016 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Nahla Nana,
Research and Innovation Director of Orient Planet Research, is scheduled
to speak about this topic during the event. The report is available
online at www.opresearch.me.

Nana said: “As older systems and
traditional ways of doing business become less inefficient amidst
today’s evolving markets, many real estate companies are now combining
their expertise with available modern digital tools to get ahead of
their competitors, increase their efficiency and productivity, and most
importantly, enhance the experience of their clients. Such a crucial
move is fundamental, especially for organizations who want to remain
relevant in a technology-centric, highly connected world. It is also in
sync with the UAE and the rest of the GCC region’s significant digital
and ‘smart’ transformation efforts. It pays to be attuned with modern
trends for regional organizations to become globally competitive and
maintain their edge.”

The report examines various significant
disruptive technologies for the property industry over the next decade
and why regional real estate firms must be agile and flexible enough in
embracing these innovations. Beyond social media, the study specifically
highlights technological trends that are automating brokerage, leasing
tasks and activities as well as bringing down barriers between potential
tenants and real estate owners. In particular, it examines how drones,
artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, virtual and augmented
realities, 3D Printing, and blockchain processing are reshaping and
reimagining the experience of both real estate brokers and investors.

Augmented
reality (AR), for example, is designed to alter one’s experience of an
actual visual space. The report states that AR has been gaining more
popularity in real estate marketing in recent years due to numerous
factors, chief of which is promoting higher user engagement through
visual interaction. A 3D creation of a property can be viewed using this
technology, allowing users to check out various sections from different
angles and not just the bits that a camera can capture.

Given
that mobile applications with AR are easily available on modern mobile
devices, the report notes that this is also the easier way to reach
potential property buyers with all the information about available
apartments and houses on sale.

Drones, on the other hand, make
manual, ground-level photography of a market property unnecessary. Real
estate firms can also do away with using helicopters and other aircrafts
to capture aerial views of their properties. According to the report,
they can utilize drones to do all these tasks not just to make a sale
but also to take a range of data across large areas of ground. Through
data gathered by drones, firms can now more efficiently compute
insurance and property prices by identifying risk factors such as
flooding, subsidence, or landslides.

“The rise of smart cities
in the GCC is spurring all these significant technological developments.
While the region is fast catching up with their use, much still needs
to be done to maximize their potential. Aligned with the region’s vision
for a technology-driven future and the sustainable smart city agenda of
many of its states, our research offers a novel concept for residential
and commercial real estate developers, among others, to use
cutting-edge technologies - some of which are not yet available in the
region - to elevate client experiences and improve customer
satisfaction. We are the first in the region to offer a study tackling
the impact of the latest innovations that could eventually yield
significantly higher returns on investment for the entire real estate
sector,” Nana added.